


The Path to Us

by Caped-Ace (PsychopompSentinel)



Category: Naruto
Genre: But They Belong to Each Other, Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Iruka is a Snacc, KakaIru Week 2019, Kakashi Attacc, Light Angst, M/M, Meals, Mild Sexual Content, Oblivious Iruka, Oblivious Kakashi, Sensuality, a couple of idiots, really mild, so it's fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-16 23:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20611460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychopompSentinel/pseuds/Caped-Ace
Summary: The Road of Life normally was full of bumps and dips and riddled with potholes in the case of Hatake Kakashi, which was why he didn't have a problem using said road as his scapegoat more often than not when he was late to something; it never worked as an excuse, but he had to take his little pleasures somewhere, somehow. Then he finds himself drawn to one Umino Iruka, and without him even noticing, the path he's travelling down slowly but surely begins to smooth out, take less sharp turns, and becomes more of a pleasant stroll than a difficult hike. That doesn't mean there aren't moments where the road disappears beneath his feet and leaves him unmoored, lost, but Iruka's hand is always there to reach out to him and guide him back.So perhaps it shouldn't have been so surprising that Kakashi would start to hunger for something more, not even realizing he was starving until he got a taste, but even he had his blind spots and Iruka occupied all of them.





	The Path to Us

**Author's Note:**

> My second entry for KakaIru Week 2019! The theme was 'Meals' and I can never make anything easy on myself, so I went a route that hardly has anything to do with food, go figure. Art work for this fic is done by [Sinyaru](https://sinyaru.tumblr.com/), who is incredibly talented so make sure to check out all their work!
> 
> If you wanna chat pop by my tumblr: [♠ Caped-Ace ♠](https://caped-ace.tumblr.com/)

There were many signs it would lead to this, but they’d been blind to every single one of them. That is, until the reality of their relationship was laid bare before them, and they were left with a choice. A choice that wasn’t really much of one at all.

It started when the disastrous chuunin exams came to an end.

Iruka had waved Naruto and his team goodbye as they left Sandaime’s funeral, bravely putting on a smile as he did so. But the image of the lone man standing there, seeing them off with not a single complaint or selfish request, had stuck in Kakashi’s brain and he just couldn’t let it go. So, after feeding the munchkins at Ichiraku and watching them walk away, chatting and messing around as if everything was alright, Kakashi made the decision to seek Iruka out.

He wouldn’t call it worry, per say, that nagged at him until he saw the academy teacher and confirmed he was going to be all right, but it was definitely worry-like. Concern for a friend, maybe, even if he wouldn’t really call the two of them anything more than acquaintances. Teammates, once. Still—he respected Umino Iruka. A man unafraid to call him out when he thought Kakashi was going too far; a man who knew himself well enough to pursue teaching instead of a higher rank (and was really damn good at it); and a man who had a heart too big for being a shinobi, but never once shirked his duties as one. Kakashi didn’t think it for a lot of people, or really anyone (they usually sought him out, not the other way around), but he wouldn’t mind actually being the man’s friend. 

It’d be nice, he thought, to have someone like Iruka to turn to for company, and Kakashi could start by being there for _ him _ first.

So he’d leapt around the village, trying to remember where Naruto had said Iruka’s apartment was, only to find Iruka acting as his very own beacon for what Kakashi had sought after. On the roof of one of the older chuunin apartment complexes, a little more out of the way of everything but compensated for it with cheaper rent, Iruka was sat, still in his mourning clothes and hugging his knees to his chest. The look on his face was vacant, dead almost as he stared at the gloomy sky, and Kakashi actually faltered in his next jump at how much that look alarmed him.

His fumble bought his presence to Iruka’s attention and, when Iruka looked up at him as he approached, Kakashi’s knees felt a little weak from how relieved he was that Iruka’s expression gained back some of the life it had lost. Something unspoken passed between them in the moment they stared at one another, though Kakashi couldn’t say what it was exactly, and when he sat down beside Iruka neither one of them spoke, but the fact that Kakashi was offering support did not go unnoticed. So much so that Iruka let himself cry in front of him, even as he tucked his face against his knees and tried to keep himself quiet all throughout. Kakashi showed him he had no judgment of his tears by scooting closer, letting their sides press together, and, though a bit hesitant as he had no idea what he was doing, Kakashi rubbed a comforting hand along the bowed curve of Iruka’s back the entire time they sat together.

After sharing in that, becoming friends with Iruka was shockingly easy.

The man still chewed him out when he tried to turn in mission reports that were less than pristine, but they both understood it was all in good fun; Kakashi always re-did the reports and turned them in, and Iruka always had a genuine smile for him when he did. And having back-up as far as handling the hellions of Team 7 was definitely what Kakashi would call a godsend, especially when Naruto and Sasuke got into it and Iruka’s insider information from their academy days did wonders to extinguish the dumpster fire before it truly had the chance to burn. Making a friend out of Umino Iruka was the best decision Kakashi had ever made, which was none more clear than after Sasuke abandoned the village and Kakashi felt the kid’s absence like an open wound.

On a normal day, after the usual mission, you wouldn't catch Kakashi in a hospital if he was conscious enough, and mobile enough, to prevent it. So when he got back to the village after everything was said and done with Sasuke, to say the hospital was the last thing on his mind was an understatement. Naruto had made it there on his own, and all Kakashi had cared about after that was hiding away in his apartment and contemplating the monument to his sins.

Himself.

It didn't happen, however, because he hadn't even closed his apartment door all the way when a scarred, brown hand skillfully curled around its edge and prevented him from shutting out the world. Kakashi wasn't willing to fight back if it was going to be some kind of attack, and it was, but not of the nature he'd been anticipating.

When the door was pulled back open Iruka was standing on his doorstep, his face oddly blank but his eyes full of empathy. They had merely stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, the door dividing them like the border between two separate dimensions, but then Iruka moved. Iruka took a careful step over the threshold, shattering the illusion that the space between them was insurmountable, and shut the door behind him.

Then he said the one thing everyone else had been telling him without words, that they'd all suggested in their looks and their actions, but hadn't actually said aloud; even the fact that Tsunade hadn't demanded he get checked out by a doctor was, in and of itself, her own brand of comfort.

Iruka said the one thing no one had been brave enough to say, and wasn't that just like him.

"It's not your fault," he declared, and despite seeing it coming Kakashi still flinched away from his words. Iruka took a step closer. "It's not."

Then he did what no one had the gall to do during the times Kakashi needed it most, but wouldn't dare ask; not even Gai, with his physicality and lack of restraint in expressing his emotions, crossed that line. No one did.

No one but Iruka.

"It's not your fault," Iruka repeated, reaching up and gently sliding his arms around Kakashi, pulling him close. He even combed the fingers of one of his hands through Kakashi's hair, careful of the knot of his hitai-ate, and guided him downward to rest his forehead against his shoulder.

Kakashi was stunned, stiff and unresponsive in Iruka's arms, but then Iruka leaned his head to the side a bit and rested it against Kakashi. The slight pressure, the warmth that spread through his body, left him trembling as if, for the first time in his entire life, Kakashi had come inside from the cold. Gods, Iruka was warm.

His last strand of restraint snapped when Iruka said one last time, "It's not your fault, Kakashi-sensei." The soft tone of his voice in his ear, the way it sounded so kind and understanding, and the use of his title as a teacher as if Iruka was making a point (he was, of course he was) completely undid him.

Kakashi's arms came around Iruka's waist and held on for dear life, burying his fingers in the fabric of Iruka's flak vest. He didn't cry, he didn't really know if he even remembered how (Obito did, sometimes it felt like his left eye never truly stopped), but it wasn't necessary as he fell apart in every other way while Iruka's enduring embrace kept him together. They stood in the genkan for a couple hours, and Kakashi was sure Iruka would leave the moment he pulled away, but he did so anyway to give Iruka some space he had to be yearning for by then.

Instead, Iruka merely offered him a small, genuine smile, and let him step away, but only far enough that capturing one of Kakashi's wrists wasn't challenging at all. Iruka's touch was so light, barely a whisper of fingertips encircling his wrist, but it might as well have been the tight wrapping of a bandage over a bleeding wound with how incomprehensibly grounding it was. 

Iruka shook off his sandals, Kakashi left following the gesture by rote, and then led Kakashi into his own living room to sit him down on his couch. Each movement more gentle, more caring than the last, Iruka divested Kakashi of his vest, his gloves, his holsters and leg wrappings, and set them aside as he got up to make them some tea after he too made himself more comfortable. When he returned Iruka carefully placed Kakashi's hands around his tea cup, pressing that warmth into his chilled, aching fingers, and then sat beside him.

It felt like what Kakashi had done for him after Sandaime died, but Iruka had taken it a step further, a bit closer to intimacy, and it had been exactly what Kakashi needed. Thus, he leaned into Iruka's side unabashedly, breathed deeply, and was so utterly thankful when Iruka did nothing but lean into him right back. Kakashi had slept soundly that night, miraculously without dreaming, and even though he'd woken up alone the impression Iruka's care left on him gave Kakashi the strength to face the day. And then the next.

Ad infinitum.

Now it was over a year later, Naruto off training with Jiraiya, and Kakashi had made it his own personal mission to ensure Iruka didn't feel the void the boy being gone must have left within him. Tsunade was a bit of a slave driver, though she certainly had her reasons to be considering the state of the village when she was sworn into office (a village still feeling the effects of Orochimaru's attack, even if they hid it well), but Kakashi, against all odds, managed his time like a goddamn champion.

They went to dinner together weekly, as long as Kakashi was in the village, and almost every other night was spent in one of their apartments with some sort of home-cooked meal and the comfort of privacy. When it wasn’t a dinner plan it was any number of miscellaneous things, such as attending the local festival together or going to see the Icha Icha movie when it came out—it had been Kakashi’s birthday and Iruka had gotten them tickets, even if he was leery to see the damn thing until it turned out to be quite charming and much more family friendly—and sometimes all they did was find a good spot to watch the sunset and talk. If Kakashi was honest with himself, and he was, it didn’t matter what they did together as long as they were _ together _ when they did it. Presently, their plans for the day had fallen under the category of hanging out at one of their apartments, Kakashi’s turn to cook—it usually was, as Iruka was a mediocre cook at best, and a danger to himself and society at worst, though there was one or two meals he had down pat on how to make.

The only problem was that neither of them showed up on time. 7:30pm, 8 at most, was their allotted time for their apartment get-togethers, but it was almost 10pm by the time Iruka was hauling ass up the stairs of his apartment complex, which Kakashi knew because he had seen him doing it when he too was moving like a bat out of hell along the rooftops parallel to the staircase. When he landed in front of Iruka’s apartment door the other man had only just made it, resting a hand against the wall by his door frame to catch his breath. After a beat of staring at each other they broke into a soft bout of laughter, Kakashi feeling somewhat ridiculous and supposing Iruka did as well, before Iruka unlocked the door and let them inside.

Shoes discarded and knick knacks set aside on the table by the genkan in the entryway, they walked into the living room side-by-side, talking about their day and why either of them was late. Kakashi’s excuse had been getting back from his mission with time to spare, but then the council had called a meeting to talk his and Tsunade’s ears off for so long he’d nearly mastered the art of sleeping standing up with his eyes open. Iruka had taken on extra duties and longer shifts to cover for the numerous people who had come down with the virus of the season, leaving a ridiculously large gap to be filled and almost no one qualified enough to do so. Except him, he didn’t say, but Kakashi heard it anyway and didn’t bother to stop the smirk filled with pride that tugged at the corners of his mouth. If you were to ask him, there wasn’t _ anyone _ qualified to fill the sorts of gaps Iruka could, and the village was lucky they had him, but Kakashi knew if he said that out loud Iruka would deny it ad nauseum.

The talking had propelled them over to the couch, where Iruka sat down and carelessly tossed his satchel on the coffee table as he did so. Kakashi followed suit, but with even less grace and not an ounce of shame as he collapsed sideways along the couch, using Iruka’s lap as a pillow while his feet dangled off the armrest as the dead weight they currently were. Unbothered, Iruka’s fingers found their way into Kakashi’s hair, and if it weren’t for the fact that Kakashi knew he was going to be the one cooking that night he’d have let Iruka’s petting put him right to sleep. As it was he had to stop himself from letting out a pleased groan when Iruka even scratched at his scalp lightly, then brushed his bangs back in that calming way that let them cascade back down on their own.

They stayed like that for an unknown amount of time, simply enjoying the comforting company of each other and the sound of the rather strong wind outside jostling the window panes, but just as Kakashi was building the resolve to remove himself from the couch they both heard something other than the wind tapping at the window. Kakashi did groan then, but it definitely wasn’t in any sort of pleasure.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he mumbled against Iruka’s stomach as he purposefully turned away from the noise, nuzzling his face into the man’s shirt. 

Iruka laughed, and though it sounded as tired as Kakashi felt it still had the kindness to have quite a bit of sympathy threaded into it. “No rest for the wicked,” he said, and Kakashi could hear the grin in his voice.

Shifting his head so that he could mock-glare up at Iruka, Kakashi put on one hell of a pout and muttered, “You calling me wicked, Sensei?”

Looking utterly unimpressed, Iruka said, “There isn’t a wicked bone in your body, as much as you want people to believe otherwise.”

And there it was. Iruka always had a way of turning playful banter into something a little light-hearted, a little serious, coated with an undertone of kindness that buried itself deep into Kakashi’s skin until he felt warmed by it inside and out. It was one of his favorite things Iruka did, to which there were many, and the man always did it without even thinking about it. It was honestly unbelievable how _ good _ Iruka was.

“Don’t go telling people my secret, Iruka-sensei—”

“Yeah, yeah. You have a ‘reputation’ to maintain,” Iruka interrupted him, scoffing good-naturedly. “If you cared at all about it, your best friend wouldn’t be Maito Gai,” he said, smiling down at Kakashi. “So I guess it’s fortunate you don’t actually give a damn about that sort of thing.”

“Rival,” Kakashi corrected, but he knew it was bullshit just as much as Iruka’s lifted eyebrow did. Thinking about what Iruka had said, however, he felt the need to say, “I think the fact that my other best friend is the most beloved teacher in the entire village, and what you find in the dictionary under ‘good person’, sort of cancels out the fact that Gai has tarnished my reputation.”

This part never got old. Kakashi knew the moment he said it that he’d be getting the Iruka Reaction™ that he honestly loved, and Iruka didn’t disappoint. The man’s whole face blushed until his scar stood out in stark relief, even the tips of his ears reddening and bringing attention to the fact that that blush travelled down Iruka’s neck. Kakashi idly wondered how far down it went. Before he could do something stupid like _ ask,_ the bird relaying the Hokage's summon began tapping incessantly at the window again with its beak, and Kakashi sighed so deeply he thought his soul left his body in the same breath.

Rolling off the couch and landing on his hands and knees like some sort of cat, Kakashi ignored Iruka’s snickering, knowing he was probably thinking of some sort of irony between his own behavior and choice of ninken. Instead he stood up, stretched, and said, “Looks like we’ll have to take a raincheck on dinner.”

Iruka hummed in acknowledgment, tilting his head tiredly against the top of the couch as he looked up at him, and Kakashi felt his heart give a painful squeeze at the image Iruka made before him. The man looked exhausted, but Iruka was still offering him a smile, his eyes saying ‘I’ll miss you’ in a way that made Kakashi want to refuse the summons, tell Tsunade to fuck off, and lay right back down on that couch. But he couldn’t do that—Iruka would murder him if he forsook his duties only so they could cuddle a bit on the couch.

Resigned to his fate, Kakashi leaned over, gripping the top of the couch by Iruka’s head, and slipped his mask down to his chin as he said very quietly, “I’ll be off then.” 

And then they were kissing.

It wasn’t anything other than a soft press of lips before Kakashi drew back, but he didn’t get more than a few inches away before both he and Iruka completely froze. He couldn’t believe he’d just done that, that _ that _ just happened, but the reality of the situation couldn’t be denied. Not when Kakashi was mortified to feel his face heat up, only to immediately get worse when he realized he’d tugged his mask down to do _ that _ and now Iruka could see the exact moment it sunk in for him that they had _ kissed. _And Iruka definitely noticed, what with the way his eyes were dancing over the features of Kakashi’s face, mouth agape and his own blush so much worse than the one before.

[](https://sinyaru.tumblr.com/post/189112982703/raffle-prize-for-caped-ace-a-scene-from-their)

But before the panic could really set in and Kakashi dove for the window, more than prepared to break through the glass and throw himself to the pavement below in an embarrassed heap, he paused. Iruka had responded to him as naturally as it had felt for Kakashi to want to (and successfully) kiss him, which must have dawned on the man when Iruka finally glanced away, bit his lip in obvious thought, and then hesitantly looked back at him. Their breathing was so shallow, almost held as they merely stared at one another, unmoving, but with each minute that passed it evened out, mingled tantalizingly in the minute space between them, and Kakashi watched as Iruka’s face relaxed and something like wonder began to fill the agate brown of his wide, beautiful eyes.

Kakashi wanted to kiss him again.

He leaned in, not more than a millimeter, but Iruka read his movements like the expert he was and reached up, sliding a hand over the contour of Kakashi’s cheek. Kakashi pressed his face into that hand a bit, invitingly, and didn’t even bother to suppress the delightful shiver that travelled down his spine when Iruka felt the shape of his jaw, fingertips tracing the rounded end of his chin, before splaying under it as they pushed his facemask further down. Iruka’s thumb lingered by his mouth, hovering wonderingly over the spot Kakashi knew his beauty mark was, before it brushed over his bottom lip and Iruka made a small sound so filled with want that Kakashi was moving before his brain caught up with him.

Their mouths met again, Iruka’s hand rounding the nape of his neck to further draw him in, and Kakashi pressed a knee against the seat of the couch to support himself better, accidentally sliding that knee right between Iruka’s legs. Iruka made another desperate sound deep in his throat, and Kakashi shuddered with the thrill of it all as he felt it tickle his own mouth, the swipe of a tongue all it took to deepen the kiss. Kakashi’s hand not gripping the top of the couch for dear life pressed against Iruka’s chest, feeling the way the man’s heart was pounding against his ribcage, and relished in the knowledge that his own heart was madly racing, having not felt so exhilarated by something as sweet as a kiss in his entire life.

If it were left to him Kakashi would have devoured the man right there on the spot, his hand already making the trip south to feel every muscle flex and tremble under the onslaught of his mouth against Iruka’s, and gods did he want more. He wanted to tear that shirt off of him, wanted to taste that blushing skin as he traced every scar with his tongue; he wanted _ everything_. But it wasn’t up to him, a fact that was made painfully clear when the first summoning bird was joined by two more, tapping so hard at the window he was afraid they would crack the glass.

Iruka must have had enough of his wits about him left to realize the same thing, because the hands along Kakashi’s throat and tangled in his hair at the nape of his neck pulled him back at the same moment Kakashi had the conscious thought to move. Kakashi didn’t get very far though, leaning forward just enough to press their foreheads together, breathing in the same space as they both worked to calm themselves down.

Kakashi didn’t want to move. He sure as hell didn’t want to leave. But the fact of the matter was if he didn’t, if he stalled any longer, Tsunade was going to castrate him and, really, he couldn’t let that happen. Not when the future was full of so many new and interesting possibilities. So, with the reluctance of a man facing his untimely demise, Kakashi slid his knee off the couch, straightened up, and took a deep breath to steel his resolve. A resolve that almost immediately crumbled to dust when Kakashi saw what he’d be leaving behind.

Iruka was still blushing quite deeply, but now it was caused by a mix of emotion and being utterly debauched by one Hatake Kakashi. His hair was coming a bit loose, peppering his face in strands that Kakashi had a hard time not reaching out to try and brush back; his lips were kiss swollen and glistened in the low light of the room, the bottom marked by the way Kakashi had pulled it between his teeth; and when he let his eye travel down Iruka’s body he could see the effect all this had on him, and Kakashi had to swallow down the urge to fall to his knees and take care of Iruka in all the ways he now hungered for. It was almost unbearable, looking at Iruka, and Kakashi knew if he didn’t leave now he wouldn’t leave at all, as much as it displeased him to have this happen and then be unable to do anything more than they already had about it.

So Kakashi licked his lips, nice and slow while Iruka tracked the movement with his eyes, before he resituated his facemask and grinned wolfishly. “Thank you for the meal, Iruka-sensei,” he said, and started to make his way to the door.

Behind him he heard Iruka snort, then laugh in a somewhat helpless way that had Kakashi looking back at him. “You better get something real to eat after seeing to whatever the Hokage wants,” Iruka said, curling his legs up onto the couch and getting more comfortable. 

Kakashi was relieved that having to leave in the middle of _ this _ hadn’t been taken badly, but he really ought to know better by now, he thought with a little smile. Iruka has been, and always will be, a man who gets the job done first and worries about his own needs last. Well, Kakashi could do something about that—partners looked after each other, after all. And what an incredible thought to have. To know he had been blessed with a _ partner, _and it was the most natural thing in the world to ever happen to him.

“Well then,” Kakashi said, “I better make this quick, because the only thing I want in my mouth right now is you.”

With a childlike joy Kakashi watched Iruka’s skin redden to a degree he’d never seen before, having not thought that blush could get any worse. He didn’t bother to try and muffle the laugh that was ripped out of him as Iruka picked up two pillows from the couch, one to bury his face into and another to throw (surprisingly accurately) at Kakashi, who ducked into the entryway to avoid being hit.

The sound of his own laughter echoed through the apartment as he suited up and left, and Kakashi didn’t care in the slightest that the smile on his face probably made him look like a besotted fool. As he leaped his way to the Hokage’s tower he made himself a promise.

It didn’t matter what the mission was he was given, Kakashi was going to finish it in record time.

He had a meal to get back to, after all.

  
  
  
  



End file.
